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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Welcome to the new website for the Humanist Society of Gainesville! You will notice that the majority of this website is similar to our original website, with the exception of some added features. We hope that you find this website useful and enjoy the new capabilities, and we look forward to frequently updating you on important news and issues in humanism, both locally and nationally.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please email us at gainesvillehumanists@gmail.com.

University of Florida graduate student Matt Mingus gave a somewhat
chilling lesson in American history when he spoke at the January 11
meeting of the Gainesville Humanist Society. The fight for
religion-free schools is not a relatively new phenomenon, but was
raging even in the mid-19th Century.

Matt pointed out that after the Civil War, more and more immigrants
streamed into our country and became good loyal citizens. Because they
brought a diversity of religious beliefs, school systems could no
longer accommodate the dominant Christian protestant religion in the
school curriculum and activities. Fundamentalist sects reacted
strongly. When the Cincinnati public schools decided in 1869 to ban
Bibles, prayer and hymns from its schools, fundamentalists took their
case all the way to the state supreme court. There the school board's
lawyer, JB Stallo, argued that government
could only support religion by guarding the "freedom" of its
development, and that anything more would be "tyranny and oppression."
Stallo argued that the US "at least ought
to be, not a Christian, but a free people." The school
district won the case and the secularization of schools continued,
ensuring that science and history be taught by empirical methods and
objective facts, and not through the distorted and limiting view of
religious dogma.

As today's fundamentalists wage their battle to "take back" the
schools, proponents of secular education continue to face the
challenge of fending off new and well-financed attacks. "The price of
freedom," Matt reminded to audience, "is eternal vigilance."

Matt's presentation, aptly called "Not a Christian, but a Free
People," grew out of his essay, "Rejecting 'His Story.'" The essay won
second place in a national contest sponsored by the Freedom from
Religion Foundation. In
the essay,
Matt discusses the current efforts of the religious right to rewrite
history in order to make the US a "Christian nation."

Matt is currently working on his PhD in European History, and teaches
undergrads at UF.

In a project that is just a few months old, members of the Humanist
Society of Gainesville stepped up to the moral imperatives of humanism
by donating food to a local program for hungry school children.

At their November meeting
members brought four grocery bags of food items to donate to the
Food4Kids backpack program in Gainesville. The
program was started in March of 2010 by Jennifer Moore, a parent at
Terwilliger Elementary in Gainesville.
It has since grown to include ten local schools -- not all of them
elementary schools.

Holy Saint Pedophilias! Guess who's worried about religious liberty!
The American bishops of the Roman Catholic Church! Yes, THAT church.
The church that took the liberty to hide child-abusing priests from
the reach of the law. The church that turned a blind eye toward the
religious liberty of millions of Jews who were
brutally exterminated during the Holocaust. The church that
robbed, tortured, and burned to death millions of men, women and
children for centuries because they were not
Catholic, or not Catholic enough. (For a gruesome one-hour
introduction to the Catholic idea of religious liberty, see
http://www.truthbeknown.com/victims.htm)

"Religious liberty is under attack in the United
States," declared Bishop William Lori at a recent conference of
bishops, who have decided to make "religious liberty" one of their top
priorities.

In fact, "religious liberty" or "freedom of religion" is the current
favorite strategy of conservative Christians, both Catholic and
protestant. By playing the religious freedom card, the Christian right
intends to trump rules that require them to follow the same
regulations as other businesses or organizations that contract with
the government to provide social services. They also use the religious
freedom card to trump the rights of women and gays, and to get
government funding for religious schools.

In Florida, this ploy has played out in the so-called Religious
Freedom Amendment scheduled to go on the ballot next November.
Crafters of the Amendment say the original law prohibiting direct or
indirect government aid to religions was an "attempt to stifle and
disrupt the constitutional rights and development of the emerging
Catholic minority." In reality, the Religious Freedom Amendment would
open the door to unlimited and unrestricted state funding for Catholic
and other religious schools and enterprises.

In his testimony before a US House Judiciary subcommittee
on "The State of
Religious Liberty in the United States,"Bishop Lori complained that Catholic Charities "has been driven
out of the adoption and foster care business" in Illinois because they
refuse to work with gay or lesbians couples in child adoptions. He
complained about requirements to provide the full range of
reproductive services, i.e. birth control information, in
government-financed church-run health services. He also said that by
calling the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) an act of bigotry, the US
Justice Department was "sticking the label of bigot" onto the church.

In early November Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan met with President Obama
for the second time this year. The topic was religious liberty in
America. The president has not yet to fulfilled
his promise to ban religion-based job discrimination in publicly
funded "faith-based" social services.

Religious liberty for the Catholic Bishops is not the kind of
religious liberty intended by the First Amendment. For them it means
the freedom to hold their religion above the law, and to rake in
government funds to indoctrinate children in their schools, deny
services such as birth control and abortion to women, and block the
civil rights of the kind of people they used to burn at the stake.

The American classic, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" begins
when Huck fakes his own death to escape the life-threatening abuse
of his neglectful and worthless father, "Pap" Finn. A judge has just
denied kind-hearted attempts to take Huck away from his often-absent
father. "Courts
mustn't
interfere and separate families," said the Judge. Pap would be
proud today as conservative lawmakers, including those in the
Florida legislature, place the rights of parents above the rights of
children to be safe from abuse and neglect.

Studies have shown that almost 87.5 % of child
abuse and neglect is perpetrated at home by natural, adoptive, or
foster parents. By law, citizens who suspect abuse must
report it to police. Today that legal as well as moral
responsibility is under threat by a proposed amendment to the US
Constitution called "The Parental Rights Amendment." The Florida
House of Representatives has officially supported this amendment
through Florida House Memorial 557, entered into the Congressional
Record of the 112th US Congress on July 26, 2011.

This amendment would effectively preempt laws designed to protect
children from abusive parents. It would codify the parents' right to
direct the upbringing, education, religion and other areas of a
child's life without government interference. Opponents say it would
enable abuse and potentially fatal neglect based on political or
religious grounds. The American Academy of Pediatrics has said such
an amendment would have a "chilling effect" upon those who work with
children. By "interfering"-- or reporting-- suspected abuse,
doctors, educators, law enforcement personnel, and others could face
costly lawsuits for usurping "parents' rights."

Florida's House Memorial is not home grown, but rather a product
handed down to conservative Florida legislators by the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a secretive national
organization that creates model laws to promote the interests of its
funders. Those funders include large corporations and wealthy
conservative Christians like the Koch Brothers and the Coors family.
For more information on ALEC see
http://www.thenation.com/article/161978/alec-exposed

The Family Research Council is another stakeholder. Passage of the
Parental Rights Amendment is to the financial benefit of James
Dobson, the founder of the Family Research Council. He has made
millions of dollars from his book, "Dare to Discipline," which
teaches parents to administer corporal punishment even to very young
toddlers. Another book by Christian minister Michael Pearl, "Train
Up a Child," advocates "switching" babies
as young as seven months with a willow branch or 12-inch ruler as a
punishment for showing anger. Pearl's disciplinary guidelines
have been linked to the deaths of several
children.

Section 3 of the Parental Rights Amendment is especially important
to individuals like Dobson. It would forbid the US from signing on
to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a
treaty that sets international standards for government obligations
to children ranging from protection from abuse and exploitation to a
child's right to free expression. US acceptance of the treaty would
put a damper on his disciplinary philosophy and kill the
sales of his books. Presently the US and Somalia are the only UN
members who have not signed on.

Some opponents of the Amendment say it is "unserious" and a wedge
issue meant to rally the conservative base by raising the
specter of a government takeover of
parental rights. The likes of Pap Finn wouldn't
want the "govment" to be "a-standing
ready to take a man's son away from him."

In what is billed as the largest secular event in the history of the
world, major US secular organizations have joined together to sponsor
a one day rally on Saturday, March 24 on the Washington, DC, Mall.
The president and vice president of the Humanist Society of
Gainesville as well as other members plan to be there.

Drawing on the lessons learned by the LGTB community, the secular
community plans to show the world, "We're huge, we're everywhere, and
we're growing." Indeed, non-believers are coming out of the closet,
encouraged by statistics showing that as much as 10 per cent of the
population actually admits to being unbelievers, and a total 20 per
cent do not affiliate with any religion.

In addition to encouraging more non-believers to assert their (un)beliefs,
the rally organizers want to use the event to dispel myths and
stereotypes about secularists.
"There is no one 'True Atheist,' no matter what your pastor or parent
may tell you, says the event website."We
will have non-theists from all political persuasions, ethnicities,
genders, and backgrounds. We will show that there are atheists in
every American demographic."

The organizers also want "to show the country that atheists can run
for office and adequately represent theists, just as theists in office
can represent atheists proudly and openly. We deserve a seat at the
table just like theists, and we hope this rally can put our values in
the radar of American voters, who may one day elect an atheist to
public office."

Ronald A. Lindsay of the Center for Inquiry, the publishers of Free
Inquiry magazine, says, "Some
people are bigots and will remain bigots no matter what. But one
reason many Americans harbor prejudice toward atheists is that they
know about them only through what they have heard from their minister
or priest, some right-wing politician, or perhaps some fatuous media
personality such as Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly. Fortunately, many
nonreligious are no longer willing to "pass." Finding their voice,
they are letting others know that they don't
believe in a god -- and that they are leading happy, fulfilling lives.
But more of us need to shake off our complacency and come out."

Among the groups sponsoring the event are our parent organization, the
American Humanist Association, American Atheists,
Freethought Society, Military Atheists and
Freeethinkers, Secular Coalition of America, Coalition for
Reason, the Richard Dawkins Foundation.

Headlining the speaker list is Richard Dawkins, the author of
ground breaking books that challenge
religion's claims to legitimacy. PZ Myers, Hemant Mehta, Greta
Christina are among a long list of distinguished leaders.

Organizers stress that the rally is not intended
to bash religion or the "faith community," but to assert the dignity
and humanity of non-believers.

In
a nation where voters have consistently and overwhelmingly voted against
tax payer funding of religious and private
schools, the Florida state government has been diverting hundreds of
millions of dollars to do just that, in spite of a state constitution
that specifically forbids such action. The photo shows a rally of
religious leaders and their flocks marching in Tallahassee to pressure
lawmakers to further expand state funding of scholarships to their
schools.

How could this happen? In what one researcher called a "backdoor scam,"
the legislature simply created a program that "redirects" corporate
taxes into non-profit organizations that distribute the money to
scholarships for private schools, 78% of which are classified as
religious. Thus the tax revenue never lands
in public coffers in the first place. The Florida government has broken
the spirit of the law by circumventing it.

In
Alachua County, of the 21 private schools that receive scholarship
("FTC") funds, 17 are religious. That includes one Krishna school, two
Catholic schools, and the rest Baptist, Church of God, Seventh Day
Adventist, and so-called non-denominational or "Christian" church
schools like the
Pentacostal church school, Christian Life Academy. The amount of
scholarship money going to the 21 schools is about $1,160,977. Marion
county private or church schools got over $1,000,000 more than that. These
number pale in comparison to Dade County, where 107 religious
schools are among 246 private schools that have gotten about $33,000,000
in state funding, and Duval, where 102 private schools, 79 of them
religious, have raked in $12,000,000 in scholarship money.

The state program was originally called the Florida Corporate Income Tax
Credit Scholarship Program, but in recent years
the legislature left off the word "Corporate." Corporations who "donate"
to it are rewarded with a 100% tax credit for
the amount they gave. That means if a corporation gives $1,000,000 to
the scholarship, it doesn't have to pay
$1,000,000 in income taxes to the state. It can donate up to 75% of its
tax liability. Walgreen Drugs has given $28,000,000 so far. Although a
corporation can keep its donations secret, many publicize their
donations, garnering good press for supposedly helping poor
children get a good education. Since the organization that technically
receives the donation is a non-profit, a federal income tax charitable
donation tax deduction is possible. Although the Florida state website
doesn't advertise this fact, a similar state program in Georgia openly
promises potential corporate donors a
federal charitable contribution letter.

In spite of having to cut its share of funding for public schools in
recent years, the state has steadily increased its funding of private
school education. In the 2010-11 school year,
$129,474,868 was donated to scholarships to send poor children to
private schools. The cap on funding for the current 2011-12 school year
is $175,000,000 and is slated to go up every
year. According to the Website of the non-profit that doles out the
money, Step up for Children, 83% of scholarship students attend
religious schools. Catholic schools comprise the largest segment of
these schools. Many others are fundamentalist church schools.

How do our lawmakers and policymakers justify this funding of church
schools? They say poor children need to have a "choice." House Speaker
Mike Haridopolis explained to an audience at
the Bob Graham Center that poor children need a chance to escape failing
public schools. The facts don't support his
contention. Only 7% of students come from schools rated by the state as
D or F schools. Forty per cent come from A
schools and 53% come from B or C schools.

There is also no evidence to support the contention that students learn
more in these schools. In the ten years of the program, the private
school students "barely kept up" with their public school counterparts
in all but one year, and the small difference then was not statistically
significant.

In
fact there is little evidence the students will get a better or
equivalent education at these schools. The state does not require the
same high standards that public schools must meet. The teachers do not
have to be certified, and the school curriculum does not have to meet
any standards such as those required for school accreditation. The
students themselves are not held up to the
same standards as public school students. In fact, if a student
can't pass the Florida Comprehensive
Achievement Tests, he or she can avoid the ordeal by attending a private
or religious school, on the tax payers' dime.

Since religious schools are founded to
perpetuate the religion, dogma and indoctrination play a significant
part of their programs. In fact, several local
school websites quote the bible verse from Proverbs that says, "Train
up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will
not depart from it." At Gainesville's Catholic high school, St.
Francis, students are required to take four full years of Catholic
theology. Local fundamentalist schools teach a Bible based curriculum
using special religious text books that
replace science with bible stories, and that rewrite American history to
support the religion's dogma. One
civics text states, "God's original purpose for government was to punish
the evil and reward the good." The same text describes the ideal form of
government. "All governments are ordained by God, but none compare to
government by God, theocracy." They
call their approach a "biblical world view."

The term "choice" is also a questionable descriptor since options are
limited for poor students. For one thing, the private schools do the
choosing, not the students. In addition, most non-sectarian quality
schools and many high quality religious schools like St Francis would
still be too expensive for students qualifying for the scholarship
without additional help. Affordable schools that charge the same
tuition as the scholarship are often small fundamentalist schools that
increase the tuition for non-members of the church, forcing the family
to either join or come up with more money.

Lawmakers and the program administrators claim the program saves money,
but only by a crude computation: the state spends over $6,000 per year
per child for public schools, but only about $4,000 for private school
scholarships. Therefore savings.For
the state maybe, but not local jurisdictions. Loss of those
students means loss of both state and federal funds to local districts.
These funds are dependent upon the number of
students enrolled. Furthermore, the expenses of the school for
facilities and programs don't go down as a
result of the loss of students. Large counties such as Duval
(Jacksonville) suffer the most. Duval lost $20,000,000 in additional
funding as a result of the almost 3,000
students lost to the scholarship program.

If
the Florida Tuition Scholarship program hurts public schools, indirectly
funds religions and can't even guarantee a
better "choice" for poor students, why do our senators and
representative to Tallahassee cynically support it? Answer: They get
votes and other support from well-organized churches. Their corporate
partners get good press from the enterprise, and the churches get, well,
your tax money, like it or not.

Dave Niose, president of the
Washington-based American Humanist Association, has brought an
interesting insight into Humanism that we all can draw upon in our
attempts to explain our life stance to others. We quote here part of
his blog of
February 26, 2011.

"The
post-theological individual is not deprived of the positive benefits
that were derived from theology. From a naturalistic, post-theological
standpoint, there is lots of room for awe, wonder, and profound
thinking. As Carl Sagan said, each of us is stardust, so humans
can be seen as a way that the universe
observes itself. Little wonder that most humanists see Sagan as having
more profundity and veracity than any biblical
prophet.

"And from this
naturalistic, humanistic standpoint, there is plenty of room for a life
of purpose and doing good. In fact, since
this one life is our only certainty, the need to live in such a way is
more compelling, certainly a better motivator than fear of eternal
punishment
from an angry mythological God.

"With the need for
theological explanations of the natural world eliminated, many good,
ethical people simply see theology itself as unnecessary. Defenders of
theology will play the
morality
card, suggesting that without supernatural beliefs we will become
immoral. But alas, observations of the
natural world have demonstrated that the inclination to live by rules
and standards is common in social animals, including humans. Our
capacity for morality is innate. Of course, our capacity for immoral
behavior is well documented as well (even in the most religious of
societies), so it's important that we create
a social structure that encourages ethical behavior and the positive
aspects of humanity.

"Because religious
institutions are so ingrained in our culture, they of course still offer
social benefits to many. A church, mosque, or synagogue can be a place
for community and charity, a place for ceremonies like weddings and
funerals. To many, religious institutions offer tradition, cultural
continuity, and perhaps a place to find peace of mind through ritual,
meditation,
and contemplation.

"But more than ever, many now achieve these ends without institutions or
beliefs grounded in supernatural theology, by instead utilizing humanist
organizations, secular institutions, or other means to fill such needs.
These people find peace,
mindfulness,
goodwill, community, ethics, perspective, and culture without the
assistance of theology or religious institutions. These people are post-theological, and
many of them are humanists."